


Johanna's Christmas Gift

by flyingcarpet



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Christmas, F/M, Like having an older sister who hates you, Matchmaking, Ugly Sweaters, wmashgchallenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 14:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3123383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyingcarpet/pseuds/flyingcarpet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jo narrowed her eyes. Kat and her little baker boy needed a good kick in the pants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Johanna's Christmas Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to razorsharpquill for holding my hand, again. And thanks to Ro Nordmann for putting together the Write-Me-A-Story Challenge on Tumblr and for the great prompts that inspired this fic!

Katniss's phone chimed with an incoming text, and Johanna glared. "Do you mind?"

"Sorry," Katniss said, sounding bored. "Sorry I interrupted your twisted little holiday tradition."

" _Die Hard_ is the greatest Christmas movie ever made," Johanna told her firmly. "And if you don't know that, you're even dumber than you look." She picked up the remote and pointedly turned the volume up a couple of notches. 

Her roommate just turned back to her phone and continued texting, ignoring Johanna and Bruce Willis equally. 

A few minutes later, Katniss's phone chimed again and she giggled. Fucking giggled. Johanna rolled her eyes. If she wanted to live with an annoying girly-girl, she would've stayed in the damn dorms. Katniss was supposed to be a roommate who studied and worked and frowned a lot, not a giggly girl who interrupted _Die Hard_ to text her latest hookup.

Johanna paused the movie.

"Is that Blondie?" she asked. Katniss tried to glare at her, but her dark skin turned a splotchy red color at the same time, making her look like an angry kitten. "Why don't you just fuck him and get it over with?"

"We're not--" Johanna watched her flail around for a while. It was pretty hilarious. "We're just friends." Katniss's face darkened even more. What was that color? It wasn't even pink anymore, kind of a burgundy or a maroon.

"I bet he's great in the sack," Johanna said, just to see if she could get Katniss's face to go all the way to purple. Actually, the kid seemed too mild-mannered for Johanna. Vanilla. But Katniss obviously wanted to climb him like a tree, and he was always watching her with those big cow eyes when she wasn't looking. "Very attentive." Johanna licked her lips in an exaggerated way. 

"Shut up," Katniss said, rolling her eyes.

Johanna tried again. "I've seen him at the gym. He's ripped." It was true. The guy had pecs of steel. "He could hold you up with one hand while he--"

A couch cushion flew across the room with deadly accuracy and nailed Johanna in the ear while she was distracted by the image of Peeta fucking Katniss against the wall. It was surprisingly hot. Damn, it'd been too long.

"Seriously, K. Text him now and you could be playing hide the baguette in fifteen minutes."

"Seriously, Jo, leave it alone," Katniss said. "I'm not you."

Johanna frowned at the TV as she restarted the movie. Bruce's muscles bulged and his skin gleamed with sweat as he fought off the villain on the rooftop, but she found that she couldn't concentrate. Shit, she needed to get laid almost as much as Katniss did. Pathetic.

 _I'm not you_. What was that supposed to mean? Not awesome, apparently. Because if Johanna had someone panting after her the way that Peeta Bread did to Katniss, she'd be taking full advantage. She'd never just sit back and say stupid shit like 'we're just friends.' What an idiot. 

Katniss was curled up on the corner of the couch, one hand on her phone and her eyes trained on the screen. It was obvious that she liked that guy, but if she didn't make a move soon, he'd think she wasn't interested.

Onscreen, Bruce was finally reuniting with his wife, and they were saying a bunch of stuff about the true meaning of Christmas. Jo narrowed her eyes. Kat and her little baker boy needed a good kick in the pants. They needed Bruce Willis to knock their heads together and tell them to stop wasting time. They needed Johanna.

The credits rolled, and a Christmas song began to play. The solution was obvious.

"Time to clean up this dump, Brainless," Jo told Katniss. "You and me are having a Christmas party."

_Yippee-Ki-Yay, motherfucker._

* * *

**Group MMS**

_Party in Apartment 4C Saturday night. Wear your ugly sweaters and we'll provide the booze._

* * *

Peeta looked at his phone and blinked. He'd just been invited to a party by an unknown number. Who did he know that lived in an apartment, but wasn't in his phone? Maybe the replies would help him figure it out.

His phone dinged again. _Can't wait!_ read the first reply. Not exactly a helpful clue. Several more replies came through, all variations on the first. 

Finally, a text came through from a number that his phone recognized. 

_All my sweaters are classy._ appeared next to the name Finnick O-Damn-Yes. Peeta grinned and made a mental note to change his security settings. 

Apparently, Finnick's reply was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Several messages came through at once, as everyone on the group message rushed to mock Finnick first.

_False._

_We've met you, remember?_

_Chest hair =/= sweater_

_We must have different definitions of 'classy.'_

And then, from the original number: _This is a goddamn Christmas party, Odair. Holiday spirit is not optional._

Peeta tucked his phone in his pocket and stood up, leaving his textbook open on the desk. He walked down the frat house's long hallway and knocked on the open door to the corner room. 

Finnick was lounging on a futon on the far side of the room, his phone in his hand and a huge smile on his face. "Study break?" he asked.

Peeta walked across the room and grabbed Finnick's phone out of his hand, then dropped into the desk chair beside the futon. He scrolled through the group message and looked at the names. JoJo. Robin Hood. Angel. Braid. Hot Lips. This was even less helpful than a list of numbers. Finn probably used those ridiculous nicknames as some kind of unbreakable secret code.

He tossed the phone so it bounced off the side of the futon and landed on Finnick's bare stomach. "How do you remember who's who?" 

"Just naturally brilliant," he said. 

"So who's throwing this party anyway?" Peeta asked, giving up on subtlety. "Anyone I know?"

"You really didn't know?" Finnick asked, and his smile turned sharp at the edges. "That's your girl and her roommate."

Shit. Peeta collapsed back into the hard wooden chair, as if all his muscles had stopped working at once. 

Katniss. He'd been dreaming of her since the first day of Freshman year, when he'd met her at orientation. She'd been carrying an enormous box up the stairs, and all he could see of her was those snapping gray eyes and a messy dark braid. He offered to help carry the box, and she refused, and he hadn't been the same since.

"You need an ugly sweater," Finnick said.

"Yeah, I do," Peeta agreed.

* * *

Finnick pushed open the door to the apartment and stepped inside the party, followed closely by Peeta.

"It must be hard to pass your classes without the ability to read, Odair," Johanna said, leaning one hip against the kitchen counter. She was wearing a denim miniskirt with black biker boots and a reindeer sweater made for someone half her age that barely covered her rib cage.

Finnick laughed, and adjusted the knit beanie on his head, which was decorated with wool snowmen. "I get by on my looks," he said, flexing in her direction. He'd known she would give him shit for wearing a sleeveless tee instead of a Christmas sweater, but that was half the fun. Two blondes standing next to the kitchen sink fell silent and checked him out in unison, and he flashed them a smile. 

Johanna rolled her eyes and looked past him to Peeta. "At least someone followed directions," she said. "I like that in a man." 

Peeta blushed almost as dark as his hideous thrift-store sweater, which was decorated with two Karate fighters poised to attack, framed by snowflakes and Christmas trees. For a moment he looked like he was afraid Jo would eat him alive, which was always a possibility. He recovered enough to wink at her a second later. "I aim to please," he said, and Jo laughed.

"Right through there, Loverboy," she said, pointing into the living room where Finnick could see Katniss's dark hair over the back of the sofa. "Merry Christmas."

Peeta clapped Finnick on the shoulder and disappeared into the crowd.

"Merry Christmas?" Finnick repeated. "You hate Christmas." Last year she'd threatened to burn down the University's gigantic tree, ornaments and all. 

"I threw this party, didn't I?" she snapped. "I'm full of the goddamn Christmas spirit."

The blondes were waiting for him in the kitchen, but Finnick knew they would wait. Right now, Jo was up to something, and he was going to figure out what it was. "You're full of something," he agreed.

"I hate this stupid holiday, but Brainless over there actually likes it for some reason," Jo said, as if this were the worst crime a person could commit. She jerked one thumb over her shoulder at Katniss, who was now leaning close to say something into Peeta's ear, resting one hand on his hideous maroon sweater. "She's a halfway decent roommate otherwise, so I let her have a party. Whatever."

Finnick replayed her statement and ran it through his mental Johanna-to-English translator. "The party is a present for your roommate?"

"Not the party," Johanna said with a smirk. "That's the present, if she can manage to unwrap it." Over her shoulder, Finnick could see Peeta tug on the end of Katniss's braid, as she blushed and looked at him through lowered eyelashes.

"Johanna Mason," he said slowly. "You do have a heart."

"I need a drink," she said, but she didn't deny it.

* * *

Katniss stumbled and collided roughly with Peeta's muscular arm as Johanna shoved her roughly to one side. 

"What the--"

"Hey look, mistletoe," Johanna said, flashing a sharp smile as she stepped out of arm's reach.

Katniss rolled her eyes, but she could feel her face heating up. Jo winked at them and sashayed off through the crowd. 

"She's right," Peeta said in a low voice, and Katniss bit her lip. His cheeks were pink, his blue eyes seemed to sparkle, and his sweater hugged the muscles in his shoulders.

They were friends, right? Friends could give a quick kiss under the mistletoe. After all, it was Christmas. Katniss offered her cheek, and he pressed his lips gently to the skin near her ear.

Peeta sighed as he pulled away, and she shivered despite the heavy wool sweater she wore.

When she looked up, Peeta's blue eyes met hers and locked on, staying steady as he licked his bottom lip. She was suddenly aware that he was standing very, very close.

She wanted more. 

They'd been dancing around this for months, exchanging smiles and texts and brushing hands, but nothing had come of it. Katniss had never been good with guys, and she'd begun to think that maybe she was wrong. Now, though... There was no way she could misinterpret the heated look in his eyes, the quick flick of his tongue, the warmth of his body.

If they were alone, she might just throw caution to the wind and leap on him. But here, now, with an apartment full of people talking and laughing, drinking and dancing to some ridiculous old Christmas song, it seemed impossible. She couldn't just grab Peeta and kiss him in front of everyone she knew, could she?

From across the room, Johanna made an obscene gesture, miming a blowjob with her fist and tongue. Katniss huffed and looked away, embarrassed.

"What's wrong?" Peeta asked, sounding concerned. "Was that not--"

"It was-- I mean, you're fine. Good," Katniss said, stumbling over the words. "I just-- I hate my roommate."

"What's she doing?" Peeta asked, without turning around to look.

"She's just watching us like a hawk," Katniss lied, folding her arms over her chest. "It's creepy."

Peeta searched her face with those sharp blue eyes, and a second later he seemed to come to some kind of conclusion. "Would you... rather go somewhere more private?" he asked, leaning in and resting one strong hand on her hip. 

"Yes," Katniss breathed, more air than speech, and then they were weaving through the crowd, not stopping for anyone or anything.

Inside Katniss's room, she shut and locked the door, leaning back against it. The room was still and empty and quiet, away from the crowds and the music and her roommate's laser eyes, but--

"No mistletoe in here," Peeta said softly, as he stepped close. She knew what he meant. This time, there'd be no silly traditions or interfering friends to blame. If she kissed him now, there'd be no taking it back. It would be real.

She leaned in and captured his lips with her own. His mouth was soft and warm, hesitant at first, but when Katniss didn't pull away, the kiss grew hotter and more insistent. Peeta brought one hand up to the back of her neck, curling his fingers into the hair at the base of her skull and pulling her closer. She opened her lips and licked her way into his mouth, and then their tongues were sliding together, and he was humming into her mouth, and she forgot to worry about her hands or her roommate or anything at all.

"I've been wanting to do that since we first met," Peeta said when he finally pulled back, minutes or maybe hours later. He rested his forehead against hers and his breath blew across her lips in quick puffs. Katniss felt a thrill run through her at the knowledge that she'd made him short of breath. 

"Well," she said, "Merry Christmas." 

"Merry Christmas," he murmured, as he kissed her again.

* * *

Outside, the party raged on, but Johanna was acutely aware of her roommate's absence. 

She placed two shot glasses on the counter, and Finnick filled them to the brim, sloshing liquor generously on the counter as he did so. She didn't even bother to tell him off.

"Here's to me, goddamnit," she yelled, as she lifted her shot.

Finnick just laughed, his teeth flashing white as he clinked his drink against hers. In unison, they tipped back their glasses and drained them dry.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm at flying-carpet on Tumblr, and I love to meet new people!


End file.
